Mysterious stem cells: Autologous (1)
Let me begin with a caveat. I do not claim any clinical or medical expertise on stem cell therapy. I am just a simple lawyer who has read many books, interviewed personally and lengthily many doctors who advocate and practice this branch of medical practice both here and in Germany, and had undergone personally the two general types of stem cell therapies.
AUTOLOGOUS STEM CELL THERAPY, the first type, involves the extraction of a person’s stem cells from his or her bone marrow (or from blood or skin or other body parts), the culturing and strengthening of the extracted cells in a laboratory, and the infusion or injection of the strengthened cells back to the patient. The infusion is intravenously injected once a month for six consecutive months.
The second, living cell therapy, refers to the injection of minutely cut parts of the embryo of a special kind of cancer-resistant black sheep into the buttocks of a patient, usually with 10 injections (five on each side of the buttocks) on the same day, not over a period of six months. To stress, the stem cells are extracted from an embryo that was inside the womb of a mother sheep, and not from the patient’s body. There are variations—like frozen or powdered stem cells—for which I have no comment except that I understand, German law prohibits the exportation of sheep stem cells.
More than a decade ago, I have heard of the autologous stem cell therapy advocated by the esteemed Filipino American Dr. Samuel D. Bernal, and of the miraculous healings he had performed for seemingly hopeless patients, like then secretary of labor Nieves Confessor whom I knew suffered from fourth stage cancer. (On Feb. 29, 2024, I met her again at a Mass held at the Asian Institute of Management to dedicate the AIM Chapel in honor of my late wife Leni. She told me her cancer had not recurred.)
I MET DR. BERNAL FOR THE FIRST TIME on June 19, 2012, when he attended a mini concert of my son Archie at the Mind Museum in Taguig City, then again on Feb. 28, 2013, at a breakfast hosted by his brother-in-law, noted American lawyer Ted Laguatan, and yet again at another concert of Archie at the Carlos P. Romulo auditorium at the RCBC June 18, 2013.
There, I asked him about what I thought was my diminishing physical and mental agility. In reply, he asked me to send him my seven thick medical albums where I have patiently chronicled my medical condition since 1983 including my regular medical consultations, the advice of the doctors I consulted, and the medicine they prescribed.
On June 18, 2013 (three weeks later), I received a phone call to see him at 10 a.m. on July 15, 2013, at the Medical City in Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City. There, he, Dr. Denise Labilles, and two nurses handed me a five-page comprehensive summary of my medical history culled from my seven medical albums.
In sum, Dr. Bernal told me I suffered from “metabolic syndrome with microvascular complication,” meaning that my body could not completely metabolize and absorb the nutrients I ate, resulting in diminished mental and physical ability. He assured me that I did not suffer from Alzheimer’s. However, my mental and physical faculties have degenerated because my capillaries were not able to deliver enough blood, and my body was not able to metabolize and absorb nutrients.
I WAS SO IMPRESSED BY HIS EXPLANATION that right then and there, without consulting my wife Leni, I agreed to have my bone marrow extracted (with local anesthesia) from which four types of cells would be sorted out, processed and expanded in their laboratory: mesenchymal stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells, osteoblasts, and chondroblasts. After about three weeks, they would call me for the first of six-monthly intravenous infusions. Dr. Bernal added that they would collect, freeze, and store some cells which I may need in the future.
The stem cell therapy on me was tailor-made for what Dr. Bernal diagnosed as “metabolic syndrome.” The medical fee was heavy: P2,222,544, but with the 20 percent senior citizen discount, it was decreased to P1,778,035 (P480,000 for Medical City and P1,298,035 for Globetek Science Foundation). I was told the fees could go up to P5 million for difficult cancer cases. The fees excluded bills for my stay at the Medical City and the professional fees of Dr. Labilles, which she kindly waived.
Thereafter, Dr. Alran Bengzon, a neurologist and president-CEO of Medical City, spoke with me. He explained that before allowing Dr. Bernal to use exclusively one floor of his hospital and before building his expensive stem cell laboratory at the basement, he conducted due diligence on his MD, Ph.D., JD, and MBA degrees from American universities as well as on his two clinics in Woodland Hills, California and in Prague, Czech Republic, and his claimed healings. He found them all “A-1.” But what truly convinced him was Dr. Bernal’s own healing of his cancer of the stomach after his American doctors gave up on him. I went home five hours after I started my conversations with Dr. Bernal, the bone marrow extraction, and my reassuring conversation with Dr. Bengzon.
To be continued next Monday.
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